Residents at the Atewa Range Forest Reserve in the Eastern Region maintain their position against any prospective mining activity within the range.
Information gathered by The Chronicle indicates that the residents were enraged by information posted on the Minerals Commission website, believed to be giving out a portion of the critical watershed and biodiversity conservation for prospecting mining.
The range, which is an important water source for three rivers – Densu, Birim and Ayensu – also has rich mineral deposits like Bauxite.
While the government is bent on raising revenue from mining the mineral deposit in the forest, the residents, independent groups, and not-for-profit organisations have warned that the decision was a threat to the wildlife and water security of the country.
Some residents in Atewa who were following the development closely, expressed anger over the granting of a licence to Vimetco Ghana (Bauxite) Limited to operate prospective mining at Saama in the East Akin Municipality of the Eastern Region.
Information displayed on the Minerals Commission website was that Vimetco had an active status to conduct prospecting mining at Saama, and was expected to start operations from February 9 this year to February 8, 2025, despite making the application on March 9, 2011.
In as much as the government desperately needed revenue for national development, some of the residents who contacted The Chronicle on phone said nothing supersedes the benefits that over five million people derived from the forest.
One of the residents, Samuel Ntow, said Vimetco was not the first company to have been granted a licence to venture into the forest reserve.
According to him, in June 2018, the state-owned Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) started clearing access roads to the summit of the Atewa Forest to allow test drilling for bauxite deposits.
Mr. Ntow added: “So this becomes the second mining prospecting license granted to a company since 2018. The question also is, how much prospecting is the government planning to do at Atewa?”
He said the water basins needed to be protected, as the world is facing water scarcity as economic and security challenge, particularly in many parts of Africa.
Similarly, the mining activities might lead to the destruction of wildlife and the ecology, especially with the impeding effects of climate change, which would exacerbate the country’s climatic conditions.
